Hope
by hawkstout
Summary: Dick and Damian are imprisoned in their own cave and all that's left is hope that Batman will save them. Warnings inside. Slash-like content, but no actual slash.


X-posted to A03 under the same pseud

**Summary**:

Dick and Damian are imprisoned in their own cave and all that's left is hope that Batman will save them.

**Trigger Warning**: Nasty things are said and rape is threatened.

* * *

"You believe he'll come back, don't you?"

It was an accusation. The boy… teen looked up at his guardian, mentor, brother and there was anger in his blue eyes that resembled _his. _

"It's not a belief," Dick replied. It was dark. It was always dark here. Their former home had become their prison. A bat screeched and it echoed.

"What? A certainty? We've been pulled into hell. We have been played as sacrificial pawns. He's not coming back, he can't."

"It's not a certainty," Dick was smiling now. He always smiled. It infuriated Damian, but at the same time… at the same time that smile gave him—  
"Hope." A single word uttered. Damian shook with rage, exhaustion, emotion. He clung on to his brother.

"It's funny," The teen chuckled darkly, "You were always his. That's what everyone always said. The first Robin, the best Robin. He was Batman's hope."

"I wouldn't say best, and it goes both ways," Dick said stroking the boy's head in comfort. It was cold.

"That's darling."

Damian stiffened, but Dick remained relaxed. Damian thought letting this man see emotion and care was to show weakness. Dick saw it differently. It showed they were still alive, unbroken.

"Group hug?" Dick asked.

Still willing to make dumb jokes in the face of despair. It has always been Dick's niche.

"Oh if only I could pretty bird," He was in their father's suit and cowl a few feet away from the bars. He didn't get close anymore, not after Damian attempted to bite off his finger. "I've been desiring more than your wit for a very long while." He licked his lips.

"Sorry, I'm looking for someone that loves me for my humour," Dick said. His eyes never left the cowled figure. He was still gently stroking Damian's hair. The boy wanted to move, fight, do something, but Dick's other arm held him tightly.

"Our union might be close at hand," The cowled figure smirked, "You're my prize for my good works. When the dust settles, when it's all over I get to claim you, Dick."

"You have to win first, I might be old and gray by the time that happens. Then maybe you'll appreciate my snappy comebacks more."

Their jailer chuckled fondly, "How long do you think Timothy can hold his little fort? How long do you think Wallace can keep running? How long do you think Roy will be able to keep a steady hand when all he wants to do is drown himself?"

"Timmy's king of the castle, Wally's the fastest man alive and Roy's hands are steady as she goes."

"But you're wrong pretty bird," their jailer whispered his eyes studying his prisoner, "Superman's the 'king of the castle' with his fortress, the fastest man alive is the Flash, the original one, and Roy's not doing too well."  
Damian caught the pages before they could touch Dick. Pictures. Roy Harper, strung out.

"Steady as she goes," Dick repeated not even bothering to look at them. Fakes, forgeries, maybe even truth, but Roy would pull himself out. Dick was looking into the eyes of their captor, "And those guys you just mentioned? The Flash, Superman? They aren't really themselves right now… neither are you."

"Heh."

"Bruce."

Damian flinched at the name.

"Haven't used that name in a while chum."

Their jailer, Batman, stepped into the light.

"It's because you're not Bruce Wayne…or Batman. You're a copy, cheap imitation—"

"A parasite," Damian finished with gritted teeth.

"But I look pretty good for a parasite right?" the cowl fell away revealing the face of Bruce Wayne, "God you should hear him scream. Music to _his_ ears. I tell him what I'm going to do with you and he begs me. Not to spare you, he knows I'll never spare you the fate I've planned my dear. No he just wants me to stop telling him, **showing** him."

Dick stared at him stonily.

"I'll have you in the finest grandeur. Silk sheets and perfumed pillows. You'll be naked and I will take you sweetly, gently the first time. I'll force you to cry in pleasure, I'll force you to cry out his name _and_ mine. I'll torture your brother here. Break him in front of you until he has no thoughts left. I'll make you come while I torture him. You will weep beautifully my pretty bird. All the while Batman will be screaming and begging as he is now."

Dick snorted, unfazed, "That's not true."

"It is."

"It's not. Bruce would want you to tell him." Dick stood up. It took effort, his legs had fallen asleep under Damian's weight, "Bruce, martyr that he is, would want to know every detail of what you want to do to me, to us. He'd want to punish himself with the knowledge, for his failures." Dick walked up closer to the bars. "He wouldn't beg you to stop."

Damian quickly stood catching him by the shoulder. When did he get taller than me? Dick wondered.

He shrugged off the teen's hand and got right up against the bars staring into the parasite's—no **Bruce's** eyes.

"The real truth is you're terrified, aren't you?" Dick grinned the cockiest grin he could muster, "Because you don't hear him screaming, you don't hear him begging. You're afraid because you don't hear anything at all."  
There was a flicker in those dead eyes—just a flicker, but it was there.  
They had pulled the parasite out of Garth. He explained how it had mocked him, made him scream, forced him to beg, used his own mind and body against him. Private hell.

But that was Garth and this…

"Because he's in a deep dark corner of _his_ mind, waiting. You can't break him and it terrifies you." Dick was right up against the bars now, "Because criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, and that's all you are-"

They've infiltrated the Justice League, captured him and Damian, taken their home, but that's all they are!

"-A common criminal."

And this is Batman!

The parasite grabbed him through the bars, forced him forward, grabbed his hair and violently kissed him.

It was wrong. It was Bruce's lips and tongue against his and it made him sick to his stomach but—

The parasite fell back, screaming.

Dick stared at the bars, stunned.

Hoped.

"No! No, no, no! GET BACK IN, THIS IS MY BODY NOW AND YOUR LITTLE BIRDS ARE MINE!"

"Damian."

Damian nodded, already moving. The lock wasn't a problem, it was never a problem, it was finding the right moment.

"We run we don't stop." Dick said as soon as the cage was opened. He saw the internal debate in his little brother's eyes.

"If there are no civilians involved: First priority, save Robin," Dick listed, as he dragged the boy out of the cell, "Second priory, save Nightwing."  
The two dodged the automatic stun blasts that lit the cave in an eerie blue.  
"Distant third is Batman."

"Understood." The boy said grabbing a rock and throwing it at one of the stun guns, disabling it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The creature continued to scream.

They raced away to the edge, to the abyss where the river ran. Dick had grabbed a cable and tied it around Damian's waist.

"Where's yours?" The boy asked just as Dick pushed him off the edge.

"GRAAAAAAYSOOOOOOOOON!" Damian screamed as he fell. The rope jerked and then went taunt. Dick cut it and two seconds later there was a splash.

Kid would be fine. Dick turned.

Still smiling.

"Hey Bruce, need some backup?" He ran at the staggering figure taking out two more stun guns.

"I will have back control!" The parasite screamed. Dick punched him in the face.

"Sorry Bruce."

The parasite tried to attack, but Dick moved so that the stun blast would hit it instead. He launched, pushed at the fiend's chest, landed on top of him and stuck his hand down his throat.

"Sorry Bruce." He repeated. He felt it, the notch in the back, just like Katana had said. With two fingers he grabbed it. It was slimy, it was disgusting, it could cause Bruce brain damage if it was still strong enough to hold on. He had to take it on faith and hope.

It came out, a little purple slug thing. This was the megalomaniac that threatened to rape him on a daily basis and torture Damian to death.  
"I don't know if you can understand me, but just know it would be really easy to squish you right now," Dick grabbed an old can from their cell flipping it upside down with the little beast inside. He put a rock on top for good measure. This took about five seconds before he was back beside his mentor an ear to his chest.

"No, no, no! You got it out! You were winning! You're not allowed to die!" Dick yelled. He slammed his fists against his chest and started preforming CPR.

A gasp and coughing.

Bruce, he was breathing. He was breathing!

"Bruce!"

"Dick," Bruce said between coughs, "It's me."

Dick was crying, he knew he was crying as he hugged his mentor, his _father_ tightly to his chest, but that didn't really matter right now.

"How long?"

"A month," the longest month of Dick's life.

"I'm sorry." Rare words, "Should have been stronger."

"Grayson! When this is all over I'm going to hold your head in the toilet!" Damian fumed. He was soaking wet and looked like a half drowned pissed off cat.

Dick broke out into laughter feeling all the stress and worry evaporate. Bruce held him by the shoulder, frowning. That wasn't unusual, and besides it was his 'I'm trying not to look amused because we have serious business to attend to, but I'm laughing on the inside' frown.

"Father," Damian said softly noticing the state of the two, noticing his Father's eyes were bright and keen, not the dead eyes of the parasite.  
Bruce held open his arms and the amount of stress Damian had suffered showed when the teen ran into the embrace.

"Group hug." Dick cried between his peels of laughter.

They had work to do, hell, they had to take on the entire Justice League and clear the Teen Titans and Outsider's names, but they had Batman.

They had hope again.

* * *

**Notes:**

I dunno, this came about after watching Dark Knight Rises (which has nothing to do with the fic oddly enough) and the hope that Batman gives Gotham city. It turned into comic verse.

I really have no idea, maybe I just wanted Bruce being a creepy perv? Ugh. I'm sorry, I'll go to my corner very soon I promise.

Even aliens wanna tap that, Dick. (Ugh bad unintentional puns!)

For anyone wondering Batman kicks the alien parasites asses and status quo is restored. The End.


End file.
